The Song
by smallpaperstars
Summary: A compilation of all my pieces for the Candyland Competition. The first story, Swan Song, is about Harry's second encounter with the Resurrection Stone.


**Written for the Candyland Competition.**

He'd been the first of them to die. He'd never thought that he would also be the last.

Harry looked down at the lovely flower twisted between his gnarled fingers. He wasn't sure what kind it was, and his fading vision blurred out the details, but he could see that it was red. Probably a rose. He'd snagged it from the dozens of blossoms wilting away in the Great Hall, left unwatered after the funeral proceedings.

Ginny had been given the funeral of a hero, as befitted a veteran from the second Wizarding War. The ceremony was done in Hogwarts and was attended by hundreds upon hundreds of mourners. She'd gone down fighting. Old age had not been an obstacle to battling the cancer with all the strength she had, but in the end it was the fighting that did her in. She was so worn out that in her last moments she could barely hold onto her husband's hand.

Harry got up slowly, joints creaking in feeble protest. He laid the rose- oh, how it reminded him of her brilliant hair - down gently on the table and then started walking carefully down the length of the Hall. It had been home to him, held such comfort, but now it seemed like a mighty stranger. Without Ginny it was unfamiliar.

He remembered one time after the War when he'd been asked to guest-teach a Defense Against the Dark Arts class. It was the first time he'd been invited to do so, and he was nervous.

_Ginny grabbed his fidgeting hands and held them still. "What are you so worried about? They've known you since they opened their first Chocolate Frog. They're going to be in complete awe."_

_He looked into her green eyes and wished he could borrow some of their confidence. "I've never taught anyone anything before."_

_"Yes you have! You captivated an entire regiment of students in your fifth year, have you forgotten? All those spells you taught the DA. And you managed to keep Fred and George from blowing something up. You'll be a great teacher, Harry, just remember that you've killed a Dark Lord and some of them can't even tie their shoelaces."_

_"I had help with Voldemort," he tried to joke. "No one's going to be there helping me teach." He saw the spark of an idea in her eyes and tried not to groan._

_"Oh yes there will," she said. "I'll come too. It's about time I polished up my dueling skills anyways."_

_So they came back to Hogwarts together. They made a good team. Harry's class went smoothly and the students had great admiration for his girlfriend the famous Quidditch player. As they were leaving, they stopped in the Great Hall by unspoken consent, walking around the old stone room in silence. It was a cathedral now. The blood spilt on its floors had consecrated it, and the tears of the living had baptized it. This was where the dead had been taken during the Battle. And for the first time, Harry resolved that he was going to marry Ginny._

Harry stepped out of the grand oak doors. The Great Hall was too full of death now for him to feel any sense of homely comfort now; Ginny's funeral had left him drained.

He wandered the castle aimlessly, visiting all his old haunts. There was the statue he'd used to get into Hogsmeade. There was the portrait of ticklish fruit. Here were the fourposter beds that he had spent six years of life sleeping in. His bed still had his initials carved in it, and so did Ron's. Ron had died in a bed like this. Harry remembered getting the news.

_He heard a scream from the next room. Running as fast as his old legs would carry him, he rushed to Ginny's side as she held her graying head in her hands and sobbed._

_"What's wrong?" he asked urgently. _

_"R-Ron," she sobbed. "He's dead!"_

_The room spun around Harry and he fell into an armchair. It felt like a giant hole had been punched through his chest. "How?" he managed._

_"In his sleep," she whispered. "Hermione found him...found him like that in the morning. Oh, Harry...he's dead."_

There was still a hole in Harry's heart where his best friend used to be. He missed Ron so fiercely every day that he thought he might die too. It had only been Ginny and a broken Hermione that kept him facing each new day. And now...

He left the dormitory. It was too full of ghosts.

The last place he went was the library, which of course was full of Hermione. He had no doubt that she had caressed every cover, breathed in every page, fallen in love with every book lining the shelves. Whenever she had come back to visit with him and Ron, she had always made a point of visiting the library. He touched the spine of one book. It was red and titled simply "The Elements". He remembered it.

_"So how are you and Ron doing?" Harry asked. The flipping pages stilled for a moment, then resumed._

_"Fine," Hermione said shortly._

_"Are you living together again?"_

_"No, we are not." Every word suggested that he had better shut up, but he plowed on. After all, Ron was his friend too._

_"Hermione, you'll have to talk to him sooner or later. The train ride up here was bad enough, and we still have the one back home -"_

_The book closed with a snap. "Then _you _talk to him, Harry, you talk to him and maybe you can explain that I would like nothing better than for him to come back when he understands that I can't live with him not telling me he cares!" She didn't seem to notice the angry tears spilling down her face. She also didn't notice Ron coming up silently down the aisle. "If he would even hold my hand, or tell me he loves me..."_

_"I love you more than anything," Ron said from behind her. Hermione shrieked and spun around. "I do!" he said loudly with an anxious smile. "And I'm so sorry I was so stupid, please forgive me, Mione - "_

_She shrieked again and flung "The Elements" at him. He gave a grunt and fell on the floor. In an instant she was at his side apologizing, Ron was getting up grumpily, they were reconciling and Harry was laughing._

He laughed again at the memory. Hermione and Ron had gotten married after that, had children, and never lived apart again. Until he died. She followed him into the void not long after. He thought she'd died of a broken heart; she'd refused to eat or sleep after Ron had died. The grief she felt consumed her.

They had both gotten a funeral like Ginny, the funeral of heroes. The entire Wizarding World had mourned their deaths and mourned for Harry Potter, bereft of his two closest friends, his closest family in the world...As Harry sunk into these thoughts, he gradually became aware of a light somewhere near that was increasing in intensity. He looked up and caught his breath.

There was glowing Patronus hovering before him, lovely as the moonlight. A doe. It pulsed faintly. It turned when he had seen it and walked away down the corridor.

"Wait," croaked Harry. "Wait!" He followed as fast as he could.

*o0o*

It took almost an hour, but they were in the Forbidden Forest. The mourners had mostly gone home, and those that remained did not bother him. It seemed they could not see the Patronus. But Harry saw it. It cast light now over the darkening leaves beneath the twilight sky, stopping every so often so that he could catch up. He was feeling an increasing sense of deja vu. Snape was dead though, of course. Everyone was dead. It was entirely possible that the doe was a figment of his bereaved imagination. He didn't care. The doe was a beacon of hope and he was following no matter what.

Then all of a sudden that choice disappeared. The Patronus dissipated in the summer air like a ghost. Harry turned on the spot, frantically searching for it, then walked over to where it had disappeared. On the spot it had just stood was a smooth stone, a stone too polished to fit in with the rest of the forest rocks. He picked it up and turned it over curiously. It was with a sudden displacement of air that Harry realized he was not alone. He looked up.

"Harry," Ginny smiled. Not dead, not even old, but Ginny as she had been when he had first fallen in love with her. "You came."

"Ginny," he breathed. Ron and Hermione stepped into his line of sight, both miraculously young and healthy. "But you're all dead."

"Oi," Ron rebuked with a smile, "that's a touchy subject."

"Yes, we are, Harry," said Hermione. She looked at him with a little concern. "But we're here, we really are."

Harry looked at the smooth rock in his hand. "The Resurrection Stone."

"Full marks, Mister Potter," said another voice. Severus Snape appeared next to his friends. "Took you long enough."

"That was your Patronus," said Harry. "Professor, why could I see it?"

And then his father, Sirius, Lupin were there. The little clearing was getting crowded. "Because you're getting closer to the veil, son," said James Potter softly. "It's almost time."

He felt a cool breath on the back of his neck and turned to look into the eyes of his mother. They did not speak for a long time, merely gazed at each other. She was just as beautiful as the last time he had seen her. "We've waited so long, my son," she said. "We've missed you so much, and now it's time for you to come home."

"Home?"

Ron snorted. "This sounds like some Muggle ghost movie." Hermione elbowed him.

"Just take my hand," said Lily Potter softly. "And you'll be with us in no time."

He took her hand without hesitation.

He opened his eyes, although he didn't remember closing them. The first thing he saw was the dark outline of a castle against the lightening sunrise.

** I hope you liked my take on this scene! I always thought Harry's idea of heaven would be Hogwarts :)**

**Please review!**


End file.
